Mother Knows Best
by She's a Star
Summary: Mrs. Weasley, in an attempt to cheer Ginny up, tells her a story about when she was her daughter's age.


Mother Knows Best   
  
A fanfiction by She's a Star   
  
~*~   
  
  
"Blue or green, blue or green?" thirteen year old Ginny Weasley murmured to herself, looking back and forth between the two sets of robes laid out on her bed.   
Mrs. Weasley always said the green robes contrasted wonderfully with her red hair, but she loved the blue robes that Fred and George had gotten her as a thank-you for helping them on Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, too.   
"Blue or green?" she muttered again-which robes would Harry like better?   
If, she thought glumly, he notices at all.   
The last time Harry had visited The Burrow, he'd barely said two words to her. Then again, why should he? To him, she was just Ron's little sister. She probably always would be.   
"Oh, why bother?" she muttered darkly, pushing the robes away and sinking onto her bed.   
"You know, I've always liked the green."   
Ginny spun around to see Mrs. Weasley standing in her doorway, smiling gently.   
"Hello, Mum," Ginny tried to brighten up her tone so her mother wouldn't ask her what was wrong. She winced as soon as the words escaped her mouth: the faux cheer was so thick that it was almost alarming.   
"Ginny, dear, what's wrong?" Mrs. Weasley asked, her tone drenched with concern as she sunk down on the bed next to her daughter.   
"Nothing," Ginny said, annoyed, "I'm just trying to decide what to wear tomorrow."   
"Ah," Mrs. Weasley smiled knowingly, "Harry."   
"I don't care about him," Ginny said much too quickly. Mrs. Weasley looked at her skeptically.   
"I DON'T!" she repeated, staring at her hands.   
"Ginny," Mrs. Weasley urged, "You were just telling me last summer how handsome and nice he was, and what pretty eyes he had."   
"Well, he IS, and he DOES," Ginny said, "But that doesn't mean I like him."   
Mrs. Weasley gave her another skeptical look, and Ginny felt her cheeks heat up-she had always been a terrible liar.   
Her mother took a deep breath.   
"D'you want to hear a story about when I was at school?" she asked.   
Ginny shrugged, which Mrs. Weasley apparently decided to accept as a yes.   
"When I was about your age, I was head-over-heels in love with one of the boys at Hogwarts," Mrs. Weasley started, "He was very smart and funny, and he had a smile that made me go weak in the knees. Half the girls in Gryffindor were in love with him, and many of them were a lot prettier and more flirtatious than I was. I was never good at talking to boys-I'd stutter horribly, go red, forget what to say..."   
Ginny smiled in spite of herself-that sounded exactly like herself around Harry.   
"Now, it was obvious he loved the attention from all the girls, and he 'went out' with a lot of them. But there was one girl-one of the only ones who wasn't smitten with him- that you could tell he really liked. She was very beautiful, and I felt I could never compete against her."   
Cho Chang, the very beautiful soon-to-be sixth year that Harry obviously fancied, popped into Ginny's mind. Ginny compared herself to the beautiful dark-haired girl often...Cho was apparently the type of girl that Harry liked, and Ginny tried to model herself after her when Harry was around. She certainly could never be as pretty as Cho, but she tried to copy her sophisticated, slightly friendly attitude.   
Mrs. Weasley began to speak again, tearing Ginny away from her thoughts.   
"Anyway, during our fourth year, they announced the Yule Ball. I hoped and prayed that he'd ask me, but he never did. Instead, another boy asked me. I'd wanted to go to the ball, and he was quite nice so I accepted. I went to the ball and had an amazing time with him-"   
"So," Ginny interrupted, "The moral of the story is to forget about the dream guy and find someone more within your reach?"   
"Already jumping to conclusions, hmm?" Mrs. Weasley smiled. "D'you want to know what the dream guy's name was?"   
"How will that matter? It's all in the pas-"   
"Arthur."   
Ginny could hardly believe her ears. "Arthur-Arthur? You mean Arthur Weasley? Dad-Arthur?"   
"That would be the one," Mrs. Weasley smiled.   
There was a momentary pause.   
"You made that up," Ginny finally accused, breaking the somewhat awkward silence, "There's no way that could be true."   
"Why not?" Mrs. Weasley asked, sounding amused. "Are you saying that you shouldn't go after your dreams?"   
Ginny didn't know how to answer to that, so she just sat next to her mother in silence.   
"Muuuuum!" Ron's yell from downstairs dissolved the quiet, "Fred and George turned Pig purple!"   
Mrs Weasley laughed for a moment, then kissed Ginny's forehead and said, "Never consider your dreams out of your reach, dear. Only when you do will they be."   
And with that, she stood up and walked out of the room, yelling, "Why did you color Ron's owl PURPLE?" to the twins.   
Ginny took a deep breath, then stood up and eyed the sets of robes for a second, happy thoughts along the lines of being Mrs. Ginny Potter flying through her head. After all, it had happened to her mother-why couldn't it happen to her as well?   
After only a moment of consideration, she picked up the green robes and eyed them in satisfaction.   
  
  
  
  
  
**Epilogue**   
  
Later that night, the door burst open, and Mr. Weasley and Ron came inside, followed by Harry. Ginny felt her heartbeat increase, and she had to force herself not to let the goofy grin that she was dying to show escape.   
Harry, whose eyes looked a bit more sad and guarded than they had on his previous visit, smiled at Mrs. Weasley and let her hug him. He then went over to Percy, who had finally gotten out of his office ("I have a very important report on the importance of keeping lawn gnomes in wizarding neighborhoods in Muggle communities!"), exchanged a few words, and shook his hand. Next, he reached Fred and George and whispered to them something that sounded like, "Did you get him the dress robes?"   
I'm next in the line, Ginny realized, her heart thumping.   
Oh, don't get your hopes up, Ginny, he's never noticed you before, she told herself.   
But, to her shock, he stopped in front of her.   
"Hi, Ginny," he said with a tired smile.   
"Hi," she said meekly.   
"I like your robes," he said warmly.   
"Thank you," Ginny said, smiling back at him.   
"Dinner will be on the table shortly," Mrs. Weasley announced. When she caught Ginny's eye, she winked, and Ginny grinned in return.   
Sometimes it paid to listen to your mother.   
  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: Everything but the plot belongs to J.K. Rowling.   
  
A/N: Thanks so much for reading :) Now I'd appreciate it if you reviewed! Thanks! 


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